She gives Texas Democrats a serious candidate with just days to go before the end of the 2018 candidate filing period.

Our Max Gorden has more on who she is — and the uphill battle she faces and our political analysts weigh in on her chances.

House Okays Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Gun Bill:

The US House has approved a Republican-backed bill that makes it easier for gun owners to legally carry concealed weapons across state lines.

The bill is the first significant action on guns in Congress since mass shootings in Texas and Nevada killed more than 80 people.

The legislation is top priority of the National Rifle Association, which called it an important step to allow gun owners to travel freely between states without worrying about conflicting state laws or civil suits..

But opponents say the bill could endanger public safety by overriding state laws that place strict limits on guns.

Democrats also criticized Republicans for including a bill on background checks in the concealed-carry legislation.

“They are combining these two pieces of legislation because they know the national concealed weapons bill is deeply unpopular,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, said. “They know they face political liability if they force this through, so they are trying to dress it up with a politically popular piece of legislation.”

Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn says the two measures should be kept separate.

He introduced the so-called “fix NICS” act following the Sutherland Springs shooting. His bill was heard in committee today.

It measure would strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers after the Air Force failed to report the criminal history of the gunman who slaughtered more than two dozen people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.

“I hope that if anything good comes out of this tragedy it will be that we finally fix on a bipartisan basis, this broken background check system,” Cornyn said.

The Senate Committee also heard testimony on bumpstocks, the device used by the Las Vegas gunman which makes a semi-automatic gun act as a fully automatic machine gun.

The discussion comes one day after the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced it has launched a review to look at the legality of the device.

Activists Call on Congress for DACA Fix:

Activists are calling on Congress for action to protect so-called Dreamers—immigrants who arrived illegally in the U.S. when they were children.

President Trump ended the Obama-era deferred action program in September and gave Congress until March 5 to find a permanent solution.

Thousands of activists were in the nation’s capital today urging lawmakers to take immediate action..

Our Washington reporter Samantha-Jo Roth spoke with a Dreamer whose future is now in limbo.

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